When the Biden administration
effectively canceled the Keystone
XL Pipeline as a first order of
business in January, environmentalists
all over North America celebrated a
major victory.
“There was no magic to how we beat
the Keystone XL Pipeline – it was grit,
shared leadership and never forgetting
who and what we were fighting for,”
said Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska
Democratic Party, as quoted in a
January 2021 article in Politico.
But did they really know what they
were fighting for?
The Keystone XL – a 1,200-mile
addition to the existing Keystone
Pipeline – was proposed in 2008 to
increase exporting capacity from
Canada’s oil sands to U.S. refineries,
many of which rely almost solely on
Canadian heavy oil and bitumen. The
pipeline was to be mutually beneficial
for land-locked Alberta, which has long
struggled with pipeline capacity, and
the Gulf Coast refineries that have been
losing crude supplies from Venezuela
and Mexico.
What might seem like a victory to
pipeline protesters may soon reveal
itself to be a great loss. Without the
Keystone XL, there is no question that
Canada will rely more heavily on rail to
move its product to the United States.
In fact, statistics are already revealing a
sharp uptick in rail shipments.
So, in exchange for a modern,
safe and emissions-free pipeline, it is
anticipated that both countries will see
an increase in carbon emissions from
diesel engines and greater risks for
environmental incidents from this more
precarious mode of transportation.
Serving the Narrative
In the oil and gas industry, it is widely
believed that protests against pipelines are
rarely about pipelines.
“The issue is the oil in the pipeline,” said
Chris Bloomer, president and CEO of the
Canadian Energy Pipeline Association,
speaking specifically of production in the
oil sands, which have long been targeted by
environmentalists as a source of the most
intense greenhouse gases. “This is the
dirty oil campaign – an old narrative that
environmentalists are clinging to.”
However, the sands have reduced
emissions by 21 percent between 2017 and
2019 and continue to do so, Bloomer said.
“That’s not even being brought into the
environmentalists’ analyses,” he said.
Furthermore, 80 percent of oil sands
production occurs in the subsurface, yet
oppositionists focus on the 20 percent
that occurs at the surface, broadcasting
unsightly images of open sandpits, said
John Hogg, past AAPG president, past president of the Canadian Society of
Petroleum Geologists and president of
Skybattle Resources. He also noted that
images of well pads in the boreal forest are
shared by extremists as representations of
all industry activities.
While the oil sands span nearly 55,000
square miles, the part that is mined is 1,650
square miles – just three percent of the
total resource, he said, adding, “But that
fact doesn’t make people raise money and
protest.”
By linking false narratives and
frightening photos to the oil sands, which
hold the world’s third largest oil reserves, it
is easy to see how extreme environmental
groups could help convince the public,
celebrities and policymakers to fight the
pipeline that would have economically
bolstered the oil sands’ production.
“How is it that pipelines, of all things,
are now a major election issue?” said
Vivian Krause, a controversial Canadian
researcher and writer, in a June 2019 issue
of Pipeline News. “They used to be out of
sight, out of mind. No one ever had a pub
conversation or dinner conversation over
pipelines. But now we do.”
Kleeb confirmed as much to Politico:
“Not a single farmer or rancher I know
would have ever guessed that they would
have been at the center of one of the
largest climate battles of the last decade.”
As a new generation of environmental
groups emerge – fueled by genuine
concerns about climate change, yet gross
mistruths about the oil and gas industry
that run rampant on social media –
pipelines have become a bullseye in what is
now a mainstream movement to handicap
the industry.
Knowing that Canada places a heavy
emphasis on support from indigenous
groups on industry-related projects,
many environmentalists invade those
communities to “stronghold” them, said
Gregory John, president of Four Peaks
Business Development, which specializes
in indigenous and stakeholder relations,
and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta,
with family relations at Siksika Nation in
Alberta and Lhtako Dene Nation in British
Columbia.
“When environmentalists go and stir
things up, it doesn’t reflect the true nature
of discussions happening at the community
level,” he said. “The dilemma occurs when
the community’s true voice is drowned out
by environmental groups not acting in their
best interests. It is all about fear.”
After researching tax returns of
charitable organizations in the United
States, Krause learned that multiple,
prominent foundations, including
the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, were
contributing to Canadian environmental
groups. A grants database specified that
certain donations were “specifically to cap
tar sands production in Alberta,” she said
in Pipeline News. She also shared that
payments were made to indigenous groups
that voiced opposition to pipelines.
Brad Hayes, director of the Canadian
Society for Unconventional Resources and
president of Petrel Robertson Consulting,
said her theories are credible. “American
interests don’t want to see competition
from Canada so they are happy to back
the environmentalists,” he said. “This is not
conspiracy theory. It is evidence.”
Oil Is Still Moving
If environmentalists believe that
axing the Keystone XL Pipeline will slow
production in Canada’s oil sands, they need
to think again.
In 2019, Canada exported 3.7 million
barrels of crude per day to the United
States – 98 percent of its crude exports,
according to Natural Resources Canada.
Many believe, even without the Keystone
XL, the oil will continue to flow.
Despite it being a more costly way to
ship crude, bitumen transport by rail is
already on the rise: “For November 2020,
the volume of Canadian crude oil exports
by rail had soared 86.5 percent month over
month to 173,095 barrels daily,” stated a
January 2021 report from OilPrice.com. In
December, the Canada Energy Regulator
reported that the country exported 190,454
barrels per day.
“We are moving toward 400,000 barrels
a day,” Hogg said. “It’s being pulled by
diesel engines in a less safe way with
more carbon dioxide being sent into the
atmosphere. That’s why the Keystone XL
was approved the first time – it’s a cheaper
and safer way to transport the oil and emits
far fewer greenhouse gases.”
Many find it difficult to forget past
rail incidents. A 2013 explosion in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec killed 47 people. And
the following year explosions and fireballs
forced the evacuation of 150 people in
Manitoba. While neither incident involved
heavy crude or bitumen, the memories
remain.
Studies have conclusively demonstrated
that pipelines pose far fewer hazards in
terms of spills and emissions.
Due in part to better technology and
safety requirements, “pipelines are the
safest and most efficient way to move
large volumes of oil and natural gas,”
states the Canadian Association of
Petroleum Producers. “Nearly all – more
than 99 percent – of the oil and natural gas
products transported through transmission
pipelines reach their markets safely.”
Pipeline operators are required to
design safety, emergency, security, integrity
management and environmental protection
programs as a means to anticipate,
prevent and mitigate potentially dangerous
conditions, according to CAPP. Operators
also use sophisticated, computerized
monitoring and control systems to provide
continuous real-time information and
conduct routine inspections and aerial
patrols of pipelines.
In fact, the Alberta Energy Regulator
reports that over the last decade, the
number of pipeline incidents in Canada
declined by 32 percent while the length of
pipelines grew by 13 percent.
The Keystone XL – the most studied
pipeline in industry history – would have
served as a prototype for efficient and
safe pipelines of the future. Its builder,
TC Energy, pledged net zero emissions,
a conversion to 100-percent renewable
power, a $1.7 billion investment in
renewable energy, thousands of “green
jobs” and “green energy” training.
Fueling the Transition
While there is no dispute that Canada,
the United States and much of the world
are working toward transitioning to
renewable energy, there are wide-ranging
thoughts as to when and how that will take
place.
“Some people believe we are right at the
end of the fossil fuel era,” said Mark Pinney,
manager of markets and transportation
at CAPP. “But the world is going to require
decades yet of fossil fuels being the main
staple of the energy mix. People are in
denial about how quickly we can phase
out.”
Referring to younger generations who
get their news from social media and are
saturated with messages about global
warming, Hogg said these future leaders
must be educated about the ongoing,
critical need for hydrocarbons.
Speaking to the EXPLORER on a
particularly cold day, Calgary-based Hayes
said, “It’s -30 degrees Celsius now and
the wind is not blowing, and the sun is
not shining. There is nothing going on
(regarding renewable electricity generation)
and the demand for power is at its highest.
You can’t possibly live here without fossil
fuels. We have to progress, bring on new
technology and we are nowhere close to it.”
Policymakers who shut down pipelines,
ban drilling and systematically close the
doors on the oil and gas industry could
contribute to what Bloomer called “absolute
chaos” in a February 2021 op-ed piece in
the Calgary Herald.
“Some say they would like to see the
oil and gas taps turned off tomorrow. Can
you imagine what would happen?” Bloomer
said. “Widespread power and heating
shortages. No gasoline.”
“China and India are not changing their
energy mix. In fact, coal, oil and gas are
growing. If we shut down North American
production tomorrow, we will be buying oil
from the Middle East, Africa and Russia,”
Hogg said. “We’re going to do the German
experiment all over again: shut down the
nukes and coal plants to go green. But
the green grid did not work for them, and
they built 26 new coal plants from 2007 to
2020.”
Some say it is time for the industry
to speak up about its essential role both
during and after the transition. “For the
longest time, the average person wanted
cheap fuel and a reliable supply of natural
gas and to live life,” Hogg said, explaining
the value of the industry did not seem
necessary to justify its presence.
But today is a new day.
In his op-ed, Bloomer stresses that, “…
we can’t flip a switch. And we can’t destroy
the industry that is going to fund and fuel
this change.”
Excerpt of Part 3:
The oil and gas industry is finding new ways to move crude and bitumen, and its
efforts to earn support from indigenous groups are paying off. But how does it convince
younger generations that fossil fuels are still needed?
“The challenge to the industry is to understand how to engage in effective
communication tactics that are respectful of our code of ethics and desire to be truthful
while making impacts on people,” said Brad Hayes, director of the Canadian Society for
Unconventional Resources and president of Petrel Robertson Consulting. “There has to
be better communication.”